Friday, March 26, 2010

Each March, the Alignment Yoga Advanced Studies program graduates a new class of teachers. We're as pleased as ever with our current graduating class, and wish them all the best. Below is the message we send them off with:

Congratulations on completing this 15-months of study. We’ve covered a lot of ground together, and it’s been gratifying to watch where you’ve each gone with this yogic path.

What now? Where to go from here?

As we found with your Diversity of Practices projects, there are any number of ways to express the practice of yoga. The goal of this course has been to give you the tools to make intelligent choices in your practice and teaching. There are only a few rules to follow when working with bodies; and similarly, very few rules in working with mind and spirit, though there are many interpretations.

The primary thing is to practice. Even if you only have five minutes to practice on a given day, you’re building the principle in your Yogic Savings Account (YSA) with each minute you spend practicing. Regular practice is the key.

What you practice isn’t as important as your commitment to practice. There are so many interpretations of yoga, of which Alignment Yoga is one. Whether you choose to pursue further studies in Alignment Yoga, Svaroopa Yoga, Iyengar Yoga, etc…find a path and stick with it. The old expression, "an inch deep and a mile wide," frequently applies to American spiritual pizza. We’ll take a little of this, a smattering of that and make it into a pizza, and then proclaim how spiritual it all is. Any path will inevitably become boring, and at some point we’ll question its veracity. Hmm…that path over there sure looks a lot better! While it’s essential to broaden horizons and study with a variety of teachers, this restlessness is a frequent companion on the inner path. You can almost hear the ego breathe a sigh of relief when practitioners jump from path to path!

This being said – be sure to keep exploring! There are so many avenues to growth, and we can grow from each of them. The potential for inner and outer transformation exists in meditation, Pilates, Yoga, family life, martial arts, gardening, volunteering and more. Keep your eyes on the horizon, even as you focus on your path.

Keep in touch! We love to hear where participants in this program end up. We’ve had students study abroad, open studios, change careers, start families, the list goes on and on. We sure hope you’ll keep us abreast of your adventures!

We’re honored to have worked with you the past 15 months, and sure hope our paths may continue to cross in the future.

1 comment:

Well, There are different kinds of Yoga which Alignment Yoga is one of the best. It keeps your body strong, covering all the muscles in your body for balance and yoga asanas. It improves your health. So you should do this exercise. Great Work...

Welcome to the Alignment Yoga blog, where you'll find yoga articles, videos and audio presentations by Scott Anderson, with an emphasis on how to avoid common mistakes we make doing this ancient practice with our Western bodies and minds.